FILE - In this April 12, 2017 file photo, Ford Motor Co. President and CEO Mark Fields speaks during a media preview of the 2018 Lincoln Navigator at the New York International Auto Show in New York. Ford is replacing its CEO amid questions about its current performance and future strategy, a person familiar with the situation has said. Fields will be replaced by Jim Hackett, who joined Ford's board in 2013. FILE - In this April 12, 2017 file photo, Ford Motor Co. President and CEO Mark Fields speaks during a media preview of the 2018 Lincoln Navigator at the New York International Auto Show in New York. Ford is replacing its CEO amid questions about its current performance and future strategy, a person familiar with the situation has said.

Ford will fire CEO Mark Fields and replace him with self-driving car chief Jim Hackett, according to the New York Times. The news comes amid turmoil in the company, including a steep 25 percent drop in car sales so far this year and layoffs of 1,400 salaried employees and possibly many more to come. The announcement is expected sometime later today. It's not just the drop in sales, market share, earnings and the stock price (down 40 percent since Fields took the reins) that has Ford investors alarmed. The company is also lagging behind rivals in the pace of tech development areas now considered crucial for automakers.

BARCELONA -- Ford's Motor's CEO stressed privacy and security when asked to weigh in on whether Apple should hack into a killer's iPhone, aligning with concerns big tech companies have raised on the issue. CEO Mark Fields' stance is fitting since one of the key issues driving his appearance at Mobile World Congress this week is Ford's continuing goal of being viewed as both automotive company and a tech-driven mobility company. "We're watching the (Apple) situation closely," Fields said during an interview with USA TODAY. "Our view as a company is we take the security and privacy of our customer data when they share it with us very carefully. We want to be trusting stewards for that data and we're committed to protecting it."

Ford Motor CEO Mark Fields is speaking out on the company's attempts to create a self-driving car (Photo: Bryan Thomas) DETROIT -- Ford CEO Mark Fields wanted there to be no doubt that the automaker is absolutely not lagging competitors in the development of self-driving vehicles. In fact, Ford hinted it could be ahead of some competitors but -- at least until now -- has chosen to keep much of its progress to itself. "We are not in a race to make announcements," Fields said in an interview. "We are in a race to do what's right for our business." The stakes are high for automakers throughout the industry as they jockey for position in the rapidly developing push to become leaders in autonomous vehicles.